


Something Else

by Grinning_Sunflower



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Kissing, Boys Kissing, Fluff, Getting Together, IwaOi Week, M/M, iwaoi - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7412677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grinning_Sunflower/pseuds/Grinning_Sunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's terrifying. </p><p>Every time their shoulders brush against each other, every time their knees touch whenever they're sitting together on a bus, every time they share milk bread and stargaze and crash at each other's places and vow to bring down their opponents in the world of volleyball like they usually do, Oikawa melts into nothingness. He doesn't want to melt every time he so much as thinks of Iwaizumi Hajime. </p><p>He doesn't want to be anything else but the best friend that he has to be because it's terrifying. So, so terrifying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Else

During their childhood, Iwaizumi Hajime becomes Oikawa's hero, despite everything. Oikawa Tooru, the crybaby who struggles to climb trees and make volleyballs fly. Oikawa Tooru, the dreamer with an obsession for extraterrestrial life, laughing stars, and UFOs far beyond his reach. Oikawa Tooru, the best friend he can rely on.

During middle school, Iwaizumi Hajime becomes Oikawa's pillar, despite everything. Oikawa Tooru, the newfound captain of an entire team. Oikawa Tooru, the volleyball player who scores a Best Setter Award. Oikawa Tooru, the best partner to rely on.

During their first and second years of high school, Iwaizumi Hajime becomes something else, despite everything. Oikawa doesn't realize what until too late.

And that's when everything changes. 

~ ~ ~

With a flutter from crescent eyelids, Oikawa stirs awake to the hypnotic drumming of rainwater overhead. The faint drizzle, serene and tame, dances on his rooftop, generating a scale of rhythms and beats that morph into coaxing melodies. He floats in the music, still numb from sleep. It takes a minute or three for him to soak in his surroundings. He's sprawled out on a leather couch, his head cushioned by a dwarf pillow. A mint-green blanket is draped over him in a tangled heap of warmth.

Then, it clicks.

He's at Iwaizumi's place.

"You're alive."

Upon recognizing the voice, a jolt runs up Oikawa’s spine. "Iwa-chan?" An attempt to sit upright triggers a shard of agony in his left ankle. The pain results in a wince that sours his face, spoiling his features. "Wha—"

"Don't move." Iwaizumi zooms in, his face filling Oikawa's vision and stealing his breath away. His hand seizes his shoulder. Squeezes it. A frown is etched in between his brow. "I'll get you some ice."

"You don't—"

"Yes, I do." Iwaizumi lets go, his grip yanking away so fast that the motion of his withdrawal almost blurs. "I'll be right back. Don't move, don't think, don't even breathe."

"That's—"

"Don't. Breathe." Huffing, he turns his back and makes his departure.

Oikawa sits there, paralyzed. Slowly, he inhales and exhales, his chest rising and sinking with soft heaves, savoring oxygen in infant sips. He can't not breathe. When Iwaizumi returns a few minutes after, he glues an ice pack onto the hurt ankle and supplies a toasty mug of hot cocoa. A fat fleet of gooey marshmallows invades the surface of the murky brown drink, just the way Oikawa likes it.

"Drink up."

"Awww," Oikawa coos. A mock gasp punctuates his playful tone. "Iwa-chan, I didn't know you were capable of being so sweet. You should treat me like this more often, it's rare that you do since you're usually such a brute."

"Shut up, Trashykawa." To retaliate, Iwaizumi sends a swift karate chop to his friend's head. It's playful and lacks any real strength, but it's enough to provoke a startled reaction from Oikawa.

"So rude!" Despite himself, Oikawa beams. Allows himself a genuine smile and a trail of chuckles. A fluttery ache swells in his chest. He hasn't smiled around Iwaizumi in a while. He hasn't done much of anything around Iwaizumi in a while. It's only been a few weeks, but already he misses this.

"Only to you. Maybe to Matsukawa and Hanamaki too, but mostly you."

"That's even worse." The smile in his lips fades as something dawns on Oikawa, plugging him back to reality. As he plants his mug of cocoa on the coffee table across from him, his gaze wanders over to Iwaizumi, who's seated beside him on the couch, watching him. He's always watched over him.

Mild heat tickles neck. He bites on his lower lip, his teeth digging into a layer of chapped skin, before roping a leash on the fuzzy feelings that usually warp his insides upside down. Restraint must be exercised, he keeps forgetting that. He keeps forgetting that he can't have what he wants. 

"You know, I didn't mean to," Oikawa says, his words heavy like lead.

"Mean to what?"

"Worry you."

For a while, Iwaizumi doesn't speak. The ongoing rain, which now gallops on the rooftop like a race horse, serves as an anxious distraction that occupies the tense atmosphere. He's mute for a stifling minute, a minute that feels like eternal suffering. Then, he sighs. "You almost sprained your ankle from doing a jump serve. That's not like you."

"I'm sorry, I went too far."

"Why?"

"Why?" Oikawa echoes, his vocal chords an octave higher. He rakes a hand through his dark-chocolate mop of hair, his fingers filing through thick strands. "I wanted to improve. Strive higher."

"Everyone wants to improve. The whole team feels the same as you, but they can't grow if they're worried about their captain's ass. If you wanted to improve, you wouldn't have been reckless today. You're better than you were last year, than when you had that knee injury. We talked about this. You already know this." His eyes narrow, slanted with doubt. "Something else is off."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. I can tell with you. I can always tell, I've known you long enough."  Iwaizumi grinds his teeth together, bone against bone. His hands clench into fists. "You've been distant around me lately."

Oikawa's blood freezes. "No, I haven't."

"I told you to stop pulling that shit on me."

"I'm not distant." His heart stutters, then spikes in his throat. He tries to swallow it down, tries to stomp out its delinquent betrayal. It doesn't go away.

"You barely look at me during practices nowadays and we don't walk home together as much as we used to. You keep telling me you're busy after school, but that's such a shit excuse. You can't be that busy." He stops, staggering into a wall of hesitation. "Do you have a girlfriend now? Someone that you’re seeing?"

"No!" Quickly, Oikawa collects some composure. "If I did, I would've told you. You know that."

"Then what's the problem?"

Oikawa dismisses the question with a flick from his hand, feigning nonchalance. He's going to keep up the facade, his facade of I-definitely-don't-like- _like_ -you, even if it kills. He has to. "I've just been tired. Exams are approaching and I've been studying." He reaches out for his cocoa and slurps it, gulping down on partially true excuses. The sweetness sears his tongue.

Iwaizumi squints at him. "Since when do you ever study that much?"

"Rude, Iwa-chan."

"I'm serious." Iwaizumi draws closer, edging near Oikawa's blanket. His brows pinch together. "Okay, I’m gonna get straight to the point and just ask you this: why have you been avoiding me?"

It's terrifying.

Whenever they're in the gymnasium with the team, with shoes squeaking against floorboards and volleyballs slapping against the calluses of slick palms, creating a synchronized system known as practice, Oikawa would notice Iwaizumi in a way he doesn't want to.

Oikawa would take note of the bulk packed in his arms, imagine how they would embrace him, how they would tuck him away in a ring of fire and envelope him in his scent. He would admire the way raw strength travels through the arch in Iwaizumi's back, the back he wants to trace constellations on, every time he soars to land a spike.

Every time their shoulders brush against each other, every time their knees touch whenever they're sitting together on a bus, every time they share milk bread and stargaze and crash at each other's places and vow to bring down their opponents in the world of volleyball like they usually do, Oikawa melts into nothingness.

He doesn't want to melt every time he so much as thinks of Iwaizumi Hajime. He doesn't want to be anything else but the best friend that he has to be because it's terrifying. So, so terrifying.

"Hajime." Oikawa says his first name. He almost never calls him by his first name unless he has something significant to share. "I think I should tell you something."

"I think you should."

"I don't like girls."

Iwaizumi goes slack. His eyes are blown wide.

"I don't like girls," Oikawa repeats, softer this time. He draws in a ragged inhale, like his lungs are about to shatter. "I've tried, I really have, especially with the girls that I’ve dated before, but I just can't."

Iwaizumi doesn't speak. He doesn't say anything. The silence is suffocating. It's deafening, louder than the storm that's starting to rage outside. The rain has transformed with the help of crying winds.

"I can't tell if you're okay with this or not," Oikawa finally says. "I thought you might be. We've known each other for so long, I would think—“

"I have something to tell to you." A glower dominates Iwaizumi's face.

This is it. It's the end.

Iwaizumi shifts from his seat on the couch, grabs a fistful of Oikawa's shirt collar, and, just before he can yank him down, says, "I don't like girls either."

Then, their lips are meshed in a rough dance.

Oikawa blanks out. He doesn't realize that Iwaizumi's actually kissing him until they're torn apart. It's short-lived, only lasting a few seconds at most. The angle had been off, their noses had bumped in an awkward collision, and overall it's a disaster.

But it's a sweet disaster.

A flush colors Oikawa's cheeks red and sets his entire face aflame.

" _Shit,_ " Iwaizumi hisses. He slaps a hand over his mouth, panic flashing in those warm brown eyes. "I didn't — I mean, just because you like boys doesn't mean you like me. Fuck, I didn't—“

Oikawa steals his lips, shutting him up. His hand slides up the side of Iwaizumi's face, brushing past his ear and caressing his cheek. They stay like this for a while, their breaths whisked away by the moment.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa exhales after drifting apart, smiling like the idiot that he is.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for avoiding you all of this time. I just didn't want you to know."

"Well, now I do."

"I like you."

"I like you too, so much so that it's annoying. You're always so annoying."

Before Oikawa can respond and call him out for being rude, Iwaizumi peppers him with butterfly kisses trailing up his neck and down the jawline border, barging into ticklish territory. Oikawa bubbles with laughter, begging him to stop but not wanting for it to all the same. He sinks in Iwaizumi's embrace, melting in it. Savoring it.

And for once, it's not so terrifying.

**Author's Note:**

> The last time I had drabbled in fanfiction was when I was, uh, twelve. It's been a long time since then. A long freaking time, let me tell you. So thank you for taking the time to read this rusty piece of writing. I appreciate all feedback and kudos.


End file.
